walk back memory lane

TM Ai’s first outing as the Toastmaster of the Evening for the Maharlika Toastmasters Club and she chose to bring the members back to the 60’s, 70’s, 80’s, and the 90’s. She had plenty of information and trivia about each decade and it’s significance to every Filipino.

CC Cecille was chosen as the Table Topics Master and she had thought-provoking questions regarding the Philippines’ past. For the first time this term, CTM Jess was chosen as the Table Topics Evaluator, to the delight of every Maharlikan. Jess has been known to be the “old reliable” Timer and to see him as TTE is a welcome relief.

There were five prepared speakers for the meeting. TM Paolo finally delivered his Ice Breaker Speech. The Monsanto sisters also followed up their fabulous first speeches with some well-organized Basic Speeches. TM Bobby once again proved he had the passion to be a successful businessman. CC Vivian then presented the award to Maharlika President Mely for her outstanding work as a church leader/servant in her parish.

TM Princeton was tasked for the first time to be the Grammarian. Also doing her first role was new member Weana.

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stuffs swap

Competent Communicator TC once again proved her creativity with her hosting of the weekly Maharlika Toastmasters Club meeting at the Jade Vine Restaurant on the last day of September. She chose the theme “Stuff Swap” and it was all about bartering items within the members of the club.

The saying “there is gold in garbage” could not be more true during the meeting as each member brought an item which he/she thought was invaluable anymore. But traded with another item of your choice, your once-forgotten token could be a useful item once again.

There were plenty of stuff to be bartered during the meeting. Some brought stuffed animals (toys) while others brought their old shirts. Everyone explained the reason behind their barter items and why they felt it was time to let it go. It seems like there was no love for CTM Jess’ Bureau of Customs t-shirt as there was no takers for his bartering item. I myself traded my 1 GB secure digital card for an organizer. Books and videos were also up for trade and everyone settled in on their item of choice.

Four new members were formally inducted to the club after the impromptu speech portion. TM January, TM Princeton, and the sisters TM Emna and Elsie are now proud members of the illustrious Maharlika Toastmasters Club.

The lone speaker for the night’s meeting was Area 12 Governor Ed as he delivered a talk about speech construction. It was useful for all attendees, including some visitors from Price, Waterhouse, and Cooper.

CC Peter had his first taste of the General Evaluator role. Despite being a little unfamiliar to the role, he proved that he had what it takes to be the over-all commander of the evaluation portion of the meeting.

After the meeting, the group decided to take the short walk to Max’s Restaurant for a night of singing and drinking. The Maharlika boys gave a tribute to Mr. Maharlika CC Edvil and gave their version of “Be My Lady”. Unfortunately, only two Maharlika beauties were at the videoke session so there was no rebuttal against the boys!

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Maharlika Electronica

In honor of the birthday of one of the founding fathers of modern day electronics, Lee De Forest, I decided to come up with the theme “Maharlika Electronica” for the weekly meeting of the Maharlika Toastmasters Club. Unfortunately, because of the heavy rains and the long weekend before the meeting, there were only a few members present in the meeting. In fact, if Kai decided to bail out of her speech on the last minute, I would be the lone prepared speaker, not to mention the Toastmaster of the Evening!

But the club carried on, true to its tradition. Long-time Maharlikan CTM Edwin Suson made a surprising comeback for the meeting. He brought along a guest and the Maharlikans were obviously excited to see their most prolific recruiter of members return. I brought a guest of my own and there was another returning guest making the total number of warm bodies present in the meeting was 14.

ACB Edvil started the educational portion with the Table Topics. He had four questions regarding electronics and our daily dependence on most electronic gadgets. The prepared speech portion was started by Kai when she delivered her 9th Basic Speech. She persuaded everyone (who has relatives or friends in the United States or Canada for that matter) to try the latest innovation in long distance telecommunications, the Magic Jack. It’s a VOIP device that connects right into our computers and allows the user to make telephone calls to anywhere North America for a minimal rate compared to conventional international direct dialing.

I then delivered my speech about the Filipino inventor who claims to have solved the fuel crisis by inventing the water-powered car. ACB Odessa acted as the GE in the absence of the pre-assigned GE. For the first time, TM Peter handled the Table Topics evaluation and by the reckoning of Des, Peter did an admirable job considering his experience as an evaluator. CTM Edwin then evaluated Kai while ACS Ed evaluated me.

All in all, the meeting was still successful in spite of the absence of the many members the club usually has.

Toastmasters District 75 Awards Night

The best and brightest of Toastmasters District 75 gathered at Max’s Restaurant in Jupiter St. in Makati for the Awards Night. Immediate Past District Governor Gina Mapua, DTM, handed over the most coveted prizes for the Philippine Toastmasters movement. Her generosity didn’t end in the awards themselves as IPDG Gina also took care of the dinner for that evening.

DTM Aida Valles and DTM Volts Victoria took the helm of the evening’s program. To get the attendees’ appetites going, the duo of Aida and Volts hosted a game of “Pass the Item”. Dinner was served and the handing of awards soon followed. El Presidente Toastmasters Club was awarded the District Club of the Year based on the pointing system devised by IPDG Gina. Immediate Past President Ida Sih of El Presidente had her hands full that night as she also bagged the Toastmaster of the Year award.

The Maharlika Toastmasters Club bagged the Division Club of the Year for Division B and Immediate Past President Ed Fabonan was at hand to accept the award. Maharlika TMC was runner-up to El President as the Club of the Year.

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Fix that iPod!

Earlier today, I was dumbfounded once again when my 4th Generation iPod froze up on me. Usually when I’m playing along with my guitar, I’ll be fast forwarding if I didn’t feel like playing the song at that moment. But too much of anything, as always, is bad right? So what happens? My iPod suddenly has a mind of its own and starts fast-forwarding itself. After resetting the darned thing three times (MENU + Center button), my iPod gave up and showed me the sad icon. So what to do? I searched for the best iPod fix I could find and found this link. Were they ever correct! I tried all the methods the posters in that site suggested and the two best suggestions were as follows: (1) the frisbee – I threw my iPod on my bed whilst spinning it wildly for two times; then (2) gave it a good smack (like beating a red-headed stepchild) twice at the back (I don’t know the scientific correlation of two spins and two smacks) but it worked! It’s funny how you fix things sometimes. Sometimes you take things apart and reassemble them back again. Sometimes, you become the dummy and take the faulty item to the service center and get robbed in the process. Oftentimes, you just give it a little smack, and all is fine and dandy.

Zohan, A Review

Those of you who plan to watch the movie “Zohan” starring Adam Sandler would find it better to spend your 150 pesos on another film. With the skyrocketing cost of living, you have to be selective in where your entertainment money goes.

Zohan (Adam Sandler) is an Israeli soldier, a counter terrorist specialist to be exact. His capabilities are superhuman – he can duck from a bullet, even stop it with his bare hands. He is incredibly strong. He excels in every martial art and he is an expert in hand-held weapons. His battlefield IQ is phenomenal. But more importantly, he is an adroit lover, and more than adequately “gifted” for the task. He can play tennis without using his hands. To flaunt his gift, he often walks around with his crotch exposed, or otherwise bulging in his scant cycling shorts. He is everything James Bond is and more, except that he does not have the finesse or the taste in clothes. No wonder all the young, bikini-clad Israeli girls love to be around him.

But he is going through a personal crisis. He wanted to leave all the violence in order to pursue his true passion – to be a hairstylist. Imagine that! Leaving all those hot, Israeli girls behind! So he came up with a plan. He drew his Palestinian nemesis, the Phantom, into a battle were he made everyone think he was killed. But in fact he actually sneaked out of his homeland into a section of New York where all the middle easterners, Arabs and Israelis, live in tense co-existence. There he acquired a new identity – Scrappy.

His journey into becoming a famous hairstylist was tough. He had to deal with the doubters, the racists and the even with the Arabs. And as fate would have it, he ended up working for a Palestinian woman, Dalia (played by Emmanuel Chriqui). But it was not his hairstyling prowess that drew the hordes of fifty-something females into the salon, it was the sexual encounter of a lifetime that he offered as part of the package. He was an overnight success! Until one day he realized he has actually fallen for his boss, Dalia. There is really something about Palestinian woman that makes them irresistible to strong, long haired Israeli men (think Samson).

Before their love story reached its happy conclusion, the writers remembered to insert a conflict that needs to be resolved. The Arabs have finally uncovered Scrappy’s identity and called for his nemesis, the Phantom, to finish the job he has left undone. But before the two could duel to death, another problem cropped up. Mr. Walbridge (played by Boxing announcer Michael ‘Are You Ready to Rumble’ Buffer), the rich man who owns the properties in the Arab-Israeli neighborhood, needed to evict all of them so he can build his large commercial complex. Unable to do that peacefully, Walbridge fomented a riot between Arabs and the Israelis in the hope of being able to get rid of all of them in one go. But with the survival of their fellowmen threatened, the Phantom and Zohan learned to work together, with a little push from Dalia who, it turns out, was the sister of the Phantom!

The problem was solved; the Walbridge was put to prison; Zohan and Dalia got wed and the Arabs and Israelis lived happily ever after. By way of suspension of disbelief, this movie is even more hopeful than Walt Disney films.

There are plenty of funny moments in this film. But what I didn’t like is this: through the whole film, the way Zohan flaunts his crotch and abuse those old matrons is just gross. You would lose your appetite for lovemaking for one week. Don’t let your kids watch this at home or you will get a call from their principal in a few days after they manifest this behavior at school. Even the movie “Deuce Bigolow” would seem tamer. Furthermore, what’s the point of casting a hottie like Chriqui when you do not intend to fully develop the love angle between her and Sandler?

If you want a good plot from an Adam Sandler film, skip this and look for “Spanglish.”

fruitful night

Another fruitful and fun-filled night was witnessed at the weekly meeting of the Maharlika Toastmasters Club . Seventeen members and four guests were treated to a night of colorful speeches and helpful evaluations. The Toastmaster for the Evening was no less than the Vice President for Membership, ACB Edwin Villanueva and he chose the “Fruitful Night” theme in honor of the many fruits of Maharlika’s labor over the past years. EdVil was in his usual self, arriving early to decorate the Jade Vine Restaurant with fruits of different varieties as well as a huge backdrop of, what else, fruits.

The table topics portion was foregone in favor of the Prepared Speech Contest for the club’s representative to the Area Contest. There were four prepared speakers, beginning with TM Ai. She has been long absent from the club’s meetings because of work-related issues,but there was no sign of a long hiatus in her though, since she delivered her Basic Speech Proj. No. 4 with great passion and with colorful words. TM Kai then followed this speech with one of her own, recounting the ordeal she had to endure during her stay in the United States. Kai’s beau, Peter, soon followed with a research-your-topic speech and Peter fanned the Olympic flame into the hearts of the Maharlikans.

Congratulations are in order for Atty. Jing upon his completion of the 10 Basic Speech Projects. He was very patriotic in his graduation speech and inspired his co-members to be the same. Jing has also been steadily improving in the “Ah-counts” category and in his final basic speech, he uttered a paltry 3 “ahs”.

The prepared speech contest was chaired by TM Peter. He proved to be a worthy chairman for the said event and he clearly showed the skills needed for the job. The contestants were all speaking from the Entertaining Speech manual and each had a funny story to tell. Owen started the contest with his misadventures as a naughty, high school prankster. He was quickly followed by Vivian, who looked back on her first travel abroad with her ex-pat boss. This was the first of three roles for Vivian that night, as she was also the evaluator of Ai’s speech as well as the Ah-counter.

TME EdVil also had multiple roles by being a contestant at the speech contest as well. He proudly displayed his dancing prowess on the stage and his funny antics gained him a ticket to the Area Contest. President Mely also was in a funny mode when she relived the many facets in her long and colorful lovelife.

Yours truly was selected as the General Evaluator and it has been a while since I took on this role for the club. As for the recruitment campaign contest, looks like Bong and his Babes are taking the lead with 35 points. Three guests from Rotaract District 3780 were there to support Bong and his Babes for the campaign.

the dark knight reviewed

The Dark Knight poster

After waiting for quite a while now, I finally got to see the much-anticipated installment of the Batman franchise. The Dark Knight marks the return of Christian Bale as Bruce Wayne/Batman and Director Christopher Nolan. New to the Batman series is the late Heath Ledger as The Joker. Michael Caine is still Alfred, Morgan Freeman as Lucius Fox, and Gary Oldman as Jim Gordon.

This new Batman movie is very different from the comic book Batman of the past. It delves deeper into the human emotions – exploring mostly the weaknesses of the human spirit and the indifference among all of us. From the opening scene, where bank robbers dressed as clowns annihilate each other just to make his share of the heist bigger, to the conclusion of the story; the movie told many tales about human beings in general.

The hype around Heath Ledger’s performance as The Joker was well deserved. The role fit him perfectly, and his portrayal of the demented psychopathic clown was spot on. His voice, mannerisms, and general demeanor were exactly what the role called for. Sure, your heart will go out for him, knowing that he will not have another performance but still, you couldn’t discount his acting prowess in this movie.

Aaron Eckhart also was effective in his role as District Attorney Harvey Dent. His transformation into Two-Face was riveting. You almost feel sorry for the villains in the Batman movies. Every single one of them has a sad story to begin with. Maggie Gyllenhaal was no Katie Holmes as Rachelle Dawes – she was a lot better actress than Katie. True, Maggie looks a lot older but maybe her role as Rachelle fit her perfectly. She was the love interest of Harvey Dent who was no spring chicken either so the love team worked out well on screen.

Some caveats on the movie though. I found that some of the fight scenes were very distracting. I thought that they could have used more lighting during the action scenes or maybe zoom the lens out further so as not to be too tight for the scenes. Also, when his tank of a Bat-mobile transformed into a bad-ass bike, I found that the CGI effects could have used a little more work. It looked fake to me, especially when the bike passed by a dirt patch. Those fat tires could have kicked helluva lot more dust after his high-speed pass but not in the film. So sad too about the Lamborghini Reventon. I didn’t pity it because it got smashed (of course they didn’t use a real Reventon there), I would have wanted a lot more scenes of Bruce Wayne in that baby. When I first saw the Reventon on Top Gear, I instantly knew that it was made for Batman.

Nevertheless, I still enjoyed the movie. It’s a true white-knuckle ride through and through. It’s a lot more dramatic than previous Batman films and it caters to the more mature audience, not the ones that want a lot of crash, bam, booms. It’s the last film that Heath Ledger made and he certainly goes out in style. He’s the perfect Joker, more effective for me than Jack Nicholson in the first Batman. I like Jack Nicholson but Heath Ledger took the role to another level. You feel sorry for the guy but at the same time, you want to knock the paint out of his face as well. You will laugh at his antics but you wanted him to get beat up so bad, he won’t need that smile anymore. Thank you Heath Ledger, may you rest in peace. Why so serious?

a lesson on flaking

I’ve been a Model Mayhem member for a little over a month now (MM #738284) and have been a regular visitor of the site. It contains thousands and thousands of profiles with lovely, high-res photos of models from all over the world. The site is very helpful when you want to find inspiration and when you feel that the photos in flckr (or in this case, multiply) are a bit too generic and bland.

But there is one word that they love to throw around in MM and that is the word “flake”. For the uninitiated, to flake means to “back out” of a meeting (or a shoot) without a word of warning. In Tagalog, to flake is “mang-Indian”. I have been flaked before (shoot or otherwise), and there are varying reasons for the flake. I guess it’s just a matter of courtesy when you’re thinking about flaking and not coming clean. People dedicate their time and energy for a meet, then if you flake them, then that’s time and energy wasted, both not recoverable resources, but extremely valuable nonetheless.

Philippines, My Philippines

Competent Communicator Vivian took the Maharlikans back to their roots by selecting the theme “Philippines, My Philippines” for the weekly meeting of the Maharlika Toastmasters Club at the Jade Vine Restaurant, Manila. It was the first stint for CC Vivian as Toastmaster of the Evening and she showed great attention in preparing for the evening’s event.

Participants in the meeting was the rock-solid core of the Maharlika TMC members. CC Ferlin started the educational portion with the Table Topics and her thought-provoking questions were gamely answered. TM Hannah then opened the Prepared Speech portion with her fourth speech, “Life is Decision”. She reminisced the times when several modeling agencies approached her and asking them to work with her; all of which she eventually declined. Studies come first for the de-facto runway model of Maharlika.

TM Kai then danced to her heart’s desire as she delivered Basic Speech Project No. 5, Your Body Speaks. Kai even had the voice-activated props in the person of her beau, Peter. She likened her love affair with a dance, and that she would rather fall in love – consequences be damned, than live without love.

The funniest person for the night’s meeting followed. TM Peter recalled the horrific but educational experience he had with the crook lock of his car last week. He injected Vocal Variety in his speech as he recounted the after-meeting debacle in San Carlos St. beside the Jade Vine Restaurant.

President Mely took the helm for the third part of the meeting as the General Evaluator. CC Cecille was in charge of the Table Topics evaluation and she only had kind words both for the participants as well as the Table Topics master.